Issa Batran was killed by a missile that hit his vehicle convoy yesterday.
Israel launched the air strikes against targets in Gaza after a rocket fired from the enclave exploded in the city of Ashkelon.
Israeli defence forces said the air strikes also hit a training camp in Gaza City used by Hamas and smuggling tunnels along Gaza's southern border with Egypt.
Several people were wounded by debris in Gaza City.
Hamas said Batran was a rocket maker and the head of its military wing in central Gaza.
The rocket strike into Ashkelon on Israel's Mediterranean coast, blew out the windows of an apartment block and damaging parked cars in a residential area.
No one was injured by the blast, which police said was caused by a 122mm, Chinese-made Grad rocket.
But the attack ended over a year of calm for the Israeli city closest to Gaza.
